News

Study shows high man earns more than short man

Author:Max Lin

Release on :2017-03-13

A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research traced the professional activity of 5,000 men in Indonesia for seven years.

By the end, it found the taller participants saw a far greater increase in hourly earnings than the shorter ones. According to a graph mapping the data, a 170cm-tall man would likely earn 1,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($0.8) more than a 155cm-tall colleague.

The researchers Duncan Thomas and Daniel LaFave, who teach at Duke University, controlled variable factors such as health and family background.

They also took their own measurements to avoid participants exagerrating their height. And they sourced a pool of men in various industries, including manual labor and desk jobs.
Analyzing the data, Thomas acknowledged that there could be genetic reasons for the correlation. He also said he believes height is rewarded in the labor market.
'There is no question that height is rewarded in the labor market over and above all other controls,' he told Bloomberg. 'It's not that height is just a proxy for cognition, and it's not just a proxy for other measures of health. It is rewarded in and of itself.'

It is the latest batch of good news for tall people.
Last year, a study found tall people are genetically more likely to be slim. Height has also been a benefit for men on dating sites as women tend to swipe right more often for taller suitors.

And according to the American Heart Association, taller people have a lower risk of cardiac arrest. That study, published in 2013, also found short men were one-third more likely to die from any cause in a given time period compared with tall men.
Short women, meanwhile, were 5.5 per cent more at risk of premature death from any cause.